Dejan Kovacevic, a lifelong Pittsburgher, is an award-winning sports columnist for Trib Total Media covering the Steelers, Penguins, Pirates, Pitt and, recently, his fourth Olympics in Sochi, Russia. He also appears on WPXI-TV's 'Subway Final Word’ and hosts a weekly show on TribLIVE Radio. For 2011, he was named one of the country's top four columnists by the AP Sports Editors. For 2012, he was named one of the country's top three columnists by the National Headliners. For 2013, he was named the state's top columnist by the Keystone Press Awards and top columnist in Western Pennsylvania by the Golden Quills.

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According to Tim Williams, neither NH or Jameson Taillon wanted to comment on the results of the second opinion Taillon received on Monday. They want to process the information before deciding a course of action.

Reading between the lines, since both of those individuals were quick to speak about ligament being attached and needing a few weeks to be shutdown to now not wanting to talk about it at all I get the strange feeling the Pirates will not be seeing Taillon in 2014 and possibly not in 2015.

Hope it turns out for the better, if not would be a pretty big blow to a team really counting on the arrival of some of its young power arms.

Let’s say the Pirates take a few weeks to come to their conclusion and than decide to schedule surgery in May of this year, and let’s use 12 months recovery time in my estimation that gets Taillon ready to just be able to pitch again May of 2015.

Applying that and the fact he will need to work himself back a bit and still has only pitched 37 innings at the AAA level, I could see him spending the rest of season pitching in AAA, getting comfortable and regaining his form and working on the things the club wanted him to work on for the first three months of this season.

I guess a September 2015 call-up could happen….I just think the timing of this hurts a bit since the ’14 season is already underway.

I would think it’s because he wouldn’t be added the major league team right away. He would probably have to wait to even start pitching in Indy until June or July and then work his innings back up. Maybe he’s a late addition in 2015 but more then likely just starts 2016 with the Pirates. This of course all assumes it’s Tommy John which we do not know yet.

Being that many had Taillon “guaranteed” to be up in the bigs come June, even though he only had 37 innings at AAA, I wrongly assumed that he would come straight out of rehab to the big leagues ……… little tongue in cheek there.

This is why no one, even the most optimisitic of fans, should NEVER guarantee a player being called up at a certain time. Injuries, and struggles can derail the “guaranteed” train at any time.

Oh come on Groat, you know there are posters here that have said NONE of the options available to the Pirates this offseason would be any improvement, or would cost too much, or would stink, or would require the loss of a draft pick, or they really “tried” to get someone………………

1979. The last time the Pirates had a solution at 1B.
Think about that. 1979. Amazing.
Yet in the past 35 years, we as fans have been treated to the Jeff Clements, and Jason Thompsons of the universe. And, barring a surprise trade, there isn’t anything in the minors at any level to have a solution.

That seems odd to me. If the second opinion confirmed the original diagnosis why would that be so hard to communicate? It would be just a simple sticking to original plan which as of March 23rd was for Taillon to be shutdown for two weeks.

If the diagnosis turned out better, you would have to believe both parties would be quick to communicate that.

Now information needs to be processed. Longer shut down time? Surgery? Just not really sure what else there could be in terms of review unless the doctors are just that unsure and they want to seek out even more information.

But there is a definite change in the communication from the original evaluation to this evaluation.

NMR, I resent that from you.
Like you don’t wield your superiority over people when you are right. Like you don’t argue a point to the death. Like you don’t call people who disagree with you trolls, like you did bpn8pitt.

Also, if posters wouldn’t have been guaranteeing Taillon and Polanco up here in June, I wouldn’t have had anything to rebut, eh?

Just another case of you attacking, unprovoked.
I didn’t agree with you, or you just can’t stand that you weren’t the one that was correct, so lets just attack again.

I know what you’re speculating about NMR. You’re speculating that it’s the UCL. I haven’t read anything specific so I’m hoping that it’s not and I’m also suggesting that there are several possibilities so I’m not going to make any assumptions based on when the team has commented and when they haven’t. After almost 6 years, I have no idea what they’re doing when it comes to public relations.

Isn’t the course of action – surgery vs rehab – ultimately up to the player.
So let’s continue to speculate that it’s something bad – – can we possibly give Taillon a break and let him think it over. Or should he really be worried about communication at this point?

And maybe the first diagnosis doesn’t jive with the second one. Maybe it is worse. Maybe it is better.

Tonight’s Cubs starter Edwin Jackson was 8-18 with a 4.98 ERA a year ago.

Jackson went 2-2 with a 3.56 ERA versus the Bucs last season. In his second start against Pittsburgh a year ago he was roughed up, lasting just 3 innings and giving up 4 runs. He lost his first start making it 5 innings and giving up 2 runs.

Jackson earned 2 of his 8 wins in his last two starts against Pittsburgh giving up just one run in each of those games over the course of 12 2/3 IP.

My first thought was that it’s the player’s body, so it should be his choice. But he is any employee of the team. I just don’t think I’ve ever heard of a situation where there was a vocal disagreement.

John Perrotto was just on with Mark Madden.
He couldn’t resist taking his usual shot at Pirate ownership.

He said that he feels Polanco is the best option right now for right field and the Pirates are sending him down to delay his arbitration clock. He admitted that he is basing his opinion on the 8 or 9 spring training games he saw Polanco play in.

Perrotto is correct. However, I am intotal agreement with Pirate ownership on this. To have a raw Polanco for a few months here now, vs. a polished Polanco years down the road is smart. This is one area where small-market teams are smart for doing this.

After his super-2 status is over in late June, if he is ready, he should be called up.
If he isn’t ready then well, he won’t be called up.

I think this is well said, I think it is a reasonable assumption that the Pirates and Tallion received differing opinions. A few things could be wrong other than the UCL ligament could be a flexor mass tear, unlar nerve problem. You can do conservative management of partial thickness UCL tears not very good data on outcomes, and surgery is the accepted practice. But it is not like we have much information.

That is just a silly use of information to make your point Groat. Ishakawa is batting .666 . OK now that we have two game samples that don’t matter out of the way is there a relevant point to make like the pirates actually turned down a reasonable trade for a first baseman. Do we have any information even proving Smoak was available. It’s odd that no other team traded for him if he was.

The pirates only missed on Loney and Morrison who was traded to Seattle and is so good he can’t get on the field. All other options have not been moved and there is zero evidence any of them are even being shopped by their teams. It’s all speculation.

Anybody want to take a stab at the chances of Starling Marte getting through the season without getting a broken hand from a HBP? I’ll say less than 10%.

Looks like a nice crowd there tonight. Most of the 2nd day crowds I have seen around the league have been pretty weak. I think this season could threaten the all-time attendance record at PNC if they stay in the race all the way to the end.

Happened right after DeShaies and Casper said on the Cubs broadcast that he will have an 80% base stealing success rate. Technically, when you get picked off diving back to 1b it is not a caught stealing, I guess.

That being said, it really used to frost me when our hitters went up to the plate wearing targets. Not any more. No more free shots at our hitters, accidental or not. Everyone on that bench knows Charlie has their back. And I really like that.

161 games left. I want to see if Morton has improved to be a solid third starter. As to Taillon, if the ligament is solid according to the initial reports, then the second opinion may be something that the first test didn’t show. I am sure whatever it is, the Pirates would prefer to exaust all options than surgery.

So I got the fam Little Caesars tonight. Ironically, I had to wait for the Hot and Ready. Anyhoo, a string of people came in one after the other while I was waiting. Just a small little store in a small town on a Wednesday night. And one person after another. That scene was being played out in towns across North America.

I commented on the Bucco blog but turns out this where the conversation is at. My bad. Ima paste what I said earlier on the other blog. I hate to say this, but I agree with Bob Walk. If they think that Jackson plunked marte on purpose (I personally don’t think he did) wouldn’t it make more sense to wait until Jackson is up and then plunk him? I realize they want to send a quick message back, but I feel like pitchers would take less liberties if it is their arse on the line. Again that is assuming they see intent – I didn’t see any intent when Jackson hit marte at all.

The single issue for the 2014 Bucs is the offense not good enough to score on average pitching. Over the season unless they trade for a good hitter at first, they simply will be in closer games than than they should. It will take its toll.

Mercer missed the line drive up the middle and now he is off the bag. Hope his hitting makes up for his average defense. Snyder in RF is a disaster and Polanco will make a difference in July on. Now NH will have to be at a disadvantage in trade negotiations.

I have been a proponent of the review system. Until now. Agree with milo. At least get it right after the long delay. Or at least show the ice crew from the pens games raking the base paths. That at least would have made it a little easier to accept.

As I was saying, Grilli ain’t right. I sense that Watson, Wilson, and Morris will be needed to pick up the slack for Melancon and Grilli this year. The question is how long is the leash for those guys.

I have no clue, but he certainly hasn’t regained his pre-injury velocity.

Melancon’s flaws were also exposed late in the season. I have more faith in him than Grilli right now, but not by much. I have more faith in the stuff from Watson and Wilson, but closing games can be as much mental as physical.

This is going to be an ongoing issue this year. The bull pen is fine, but just asking them to do what they did last year is to much. Grilli will not be as good but he is Ok. But without more pop, I can’t see this team taking any team for granted. Lot’s of nail byters on the horizon

Marte is the wild card for the Pirates offense. You can’t expect many others to have better offensive years than last year, based on their talent level. Marte is one of the few exceptions. If he can make a jump towards his offensive ceiling, that’ll really help the offense.

Next time they show a video of the Cobra Sign in 79, look for a little 3 year old dancing a couple of rows behind. That is Demon Dachshund. I don’t remember the name of the lady that would bring the sign, but she was there every day, always in the same seats, and those seats were first come, first serve.

I remember in the early 70s, there was a buzz about the Cobra, he was cooking heat in the minors, am not sure how some of my friends knew about him.

Yes, and I’d bet that 99% of the other teams have more offense than the Bucs. Morton had his first win until the
so-called closers came in. The Pirates have got to start hitting, but don’t count on it.

On Barmes, if you have a Bobby Tolan batting stance you got to know they are going to go under your hands with every pitch. And even if you get wood on it, more times than not the result will be what everyone just witnessed.

I was also at the longest game at Three Rivers, 20 innings against the Cubs in 1980. Last game before the All Star break. Jim Bibby won in relief (we were out of pitchers). Omar Moreno singled in the winning run.

Behind a Tony Sanchez game winning RBI in the 16th that followed a big two Out RBI in the 12th from Starling Marte to re-tie the game, the Buccos squeak past the Cubs 4-3 in 16 innings and there was nooooooo doubt about it.

Stolmy Pimental earns the win as the seventh Pirates pitcher of the night throwing 4 scoreless innings. Charlie Morton started and was dominant in his 6 shutout innings.

With the win the Pirates open the 2014 campaign with a series win and improve to 2-0.

The Bucs will look for the sweep in less than 12 hours when Wandy Rodriguez returns to the mound for the Bucs.

And so, the Pirates won in 16 and took the opening series. And now, there’s one more this afternoon, weather permitting. We’d all been warned to expect games like this this season since the Bucs don’t have enough offense, and it looks like that’s how it will be all right. And the only reason why the Cubs lost is because they don’t seem to have enough offense either. Anyhow, at least the Pirates won’t be 1-5 like they were at the beginning of last season when they lost two of three in Chicago.